I'm way behind at the moment - but if every ride was like today's you'd never get me off the bike.

After a pleasant run around the Lake Burley Griffin here for the evening constitutional, I pull up to see the most incredible intense orange-purple sunset over the mountains, reflected in the waters. The winds that were ferocious earlier had completed died away. The cloud was high but diffuse, so the colour palette was smooth and brilliant spanning a wide arc - the colours reminded me of the sunsets we got in the months after Mt Pinatubo blew in 1991. Enough to stop the bike and watch for a few minutes. I'm alone, marvelling at that when I head the roar of approaching engines, and from over the trees six RAAF aerobatics planes swoop overhead and proceed to corkscrew, loop, and dive basically right above me for 15 minutes. I could see the sunset reflect off the bottom of the planes at the right angle.

Then I hear music; I head up to the Australia Celebrates live concert on the lawns of Parliament House. The stage is a fair way down on the lawns there, but I head around the back of the crowd - to find myself 15 metres from a second stage right near Parliament House, where Jimmy Barnes and band are getting ready to sing Working Class Man.

They're singing with in ear monitors and no stage speakers, so it's not quite as impressive and audio event up there as I might have hoped - but for a no-planning serependitious ride, I'll take it. I'm thinking sometimes Canberra knows how to turn on a party.

What a talented photographer you are Norbs, you managed to capture my best angle

The only thing missing on my custom kit was the following sign (next time):Thought it was a good chance to meet Norbs in person, both being in adelaide for TDU; missed him on wednesday on Corkscrew rd but managed to bump into him by chance amidst a crowd "estimated" to be 100k in Stirling.

Some lovely riding over there, the hills are fun (see Norbs video of Norton Summit descent on 23/1/13) and everything so close. Good bike lanes in the city. The hills have helped me get into the green for my Strava climbing target.

Going back to the original photo. that was at the end of Stage 3 in Stirling. The pros join the crowd in riding back down to Adelaide, Team Sky had no trouble overtaking me .

A big pat on the back to the SA Police who did a great job controlling the crowd of riders, traffic and sorting things out when things went wrong (saw a rec rider down each day on some fast descents, police and ambulance very efficient).

What a talented photographer you are Norbs, you managed to capture my best angle

The only thing missing on my custom kit was the following sign (next time):Thought it was a good chance to meet Norbs in person, both being in adelaide for TDU; missed him on wednesday on Corkscrew rd but managed to bump into him by chance amidst a crowd "estimated" to be 100k in Stirling.

Some lovely riding over there, the hills are fun (see Norbs video of Norton Summit descent on 23/1/13) and everything so close. Good bike lanes in the city. The hills have helped me get into the green for my Strava climbing target.

Going back to the original photo. that was at the end of Stage 3 in Stirling. The pros join the crowd in riding back down to Adelaide, Team Sky had no trouble overtaking me .

A big pat on the back to the SA Police who did a great job controlling the crowd of riders, traffic and sorting things out when things went wrong (saw a rec rider down each day on some fast descents, police and ambulance very efficient).

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